Thread: What happened when I tried this?

Last night I tried to... I forget the word (WILD or something). I used the audio mp3 that was supposed to help with lucid dreaming or relaxing and had it set to repeat on my ipod. I laid on my back and tried to focus only on my breathing, trying to count to thirty, then not count, and go from there.

Here's what happened:

1. I laid on my back and started the mp3. All lights were off so I wouldn't be distracted and I had my eyes half open (I just kinda relaxed them without them being fully open or completely closed).

2. I did the breathing where you focus only on your breath and count each breath, trying to free your mind of clutter.

Here's where it got strange:

3. In terms of hypnotism, I can easily trance myself or self-hypnotize myself. The feeling is similar to what I've heard about this technique, with the feeling of your body being numb and very heavy like it's hard to move, but it's more of a deep relaxation. I started getting that feeling, first in my feet, then up my legs, and finally my entire body.

4. I then started to see everything go... I guess what would be described as "darker", in the sense that the edges of my peripheral vision started to get that hazy like edging to it, but it was a black hazy, so I was starting to only see like a tunnel in front of me.

5. Then I started to feel a bit sick, my breathing becoming not really harder, but it made it feel like I was trying to hyperventilate myself, so I slowed my breathing and tried to make it relaxed. Even though I knew I was feeling sick, I still didn't move and so I don't know if I was thinking about it and thus messed up or what.

Here's the more odd part:

6. Even though I was feeling sick, I continued to try and go through with it, not moving, not concentrating on anything, and not really thinking about anything.

7. The darkness started to close in more and more and more on my vision, until it was like I was seeing a pinpoint of light at the end of a very long tunnel.

8. At this point, it was odd... I can't really describe them, but before I started I thought that if I was able to control anything, I would want to go back to one of the dreams I had a while ago, so I thought of the basics of that dream (The location, the people, etc.) and oddly, a few images from the dream started popping up.

9. I didn't really think about it, and I only remember a few images that seem like when you close your eyes after looking at light, the image that remains when your eyes are closed, that was what most of them looked like for what I can remember.

10. It got really intense and I was only seeing these images pop up every now and then, and everything else was essentially pitch black, and I was still feeling a little sick. I tried to move out of it, cause I didn't know what was going on, but it was like I was being covered by a heavy blanket that kept me to the bed.


As soon as I tried to move and get up, everything started to go away and eventually I just kinda sat up. That's how I remember everything, although I don't recall what time I started and what time I ended, because right after I sat up I just kinda laid back down and went to sleep practically immediately... and had a few random dreams.....






If anything needs to be cleared I'll try to remember, these are just the things that I recall doing and seeing now that I think about it.

Sounds like average sleep paralysis (and some onset of WILD) to me, especially with feeling heavy and seeing images. What do you need clarification on?

Where do I go from there?

When the darkness was rushing in, and then starting to see like the little flashes of images, where do I go from there? Do I just keep staying relaxed and will it eventually pull me into a dream? Or is there another step to getting into the dream?

I don't want to be laying there for a long time, only to be forgetting something and just end up going to sleep accidentally.

Yeah, that's one of the difficulties with WILD - sometimes people just end up falling asleep. This technique in general is more difficult than others, so if you are just starting out with lucid dreaming, I would recommend trying out others as well.

When you are in the stage you described, just stay still until you hopefully start to see more concrete images, and hopefully you will see an entire dream scene appear. When this happens, try to roll off the bed or to stand up... if done at the correct time, you should feel your "dream body" get up while your real body will be fast asleep!

Originally Posted by Mes Tarrant

Sounds like average sleep paralysis (and some onset of WILD) to me, especially with feeling heavy and seeing images. What do you need clarification on?

No, actually it does not. Feelings of heavyness, numbness, tingling, nausea, lassitude, etc. are all typical symptoms that accompany hypnosis, and he says he is easily hypnotized. And seeing images has nothing to do with sleep paralysis. I very much suspect that most people who think they are in "sleep paralysis" are not. Sleep paralysis simply means that you are unable to move. A common error is to confuse the term sleep paralysis with hypnagogic hallucinations. If you see images, hear sounds, and get odd sensations like vibrations and acceleration, that's called hypnagogic hallucinations, not sleep paralysis. Most likely, many people also misinterpret lassitude (the feeling that it would be too much work to move) and assorted physical sensations as sleep paralysis. If you lie completely still for half an hour and pay close attention to the sensations in your body, you will typically notice many odd things, but it doesn't mean that it's sleep paralysis. Real accounts of sleep paralysis, on the other hand, describe it as if something heavy is pressing your body down and making it hard to breathe, and it is often accompanied by strong fear.

Originally Posted by Thor

blah blah blah.

Oi. I pointed out that it was SP because Vette's body was feeling heavy. It is very common for hypnagogic images to accompany sleep paralysis.

The "strong fear" part has been reported to occur during SP, but it is not a common enough of an occurrence to be relevant in this discussion.

Originally Posted by Mes Tarrant

I pointed out that it was SP because Vette's body was feeling heavy.

And you were most likely wrong. Feelings of heavyness are not a symptom of sleep paralysis. The feeling of being crushed down is, however.

It is very common for hypnagogic images to accompany sleep paralysis.

That's completely irrelevant, and a good example of faulty logic. By analogy it is very common for fever to accompany influenza, but that does not mean that you call any fever "influenza". What exactly do you gain by conflating established terms in this way?

The "strong fear" part has been reported to occur during SP, but it is not a common enough of an occurrence to be relevant in this discussion.

Really? Care to cite any references?

Firstly, I respect your point of view, but a) you could act a little less condescending (that's what the lounge and senseless banter are for these days, anyway) and b) you could provide the first poster with some helpful hints on how to proceed toward his/her goal of achieving a lucid dream. All you are doing now is arguing with me, and with a terrible attitude.

And you were most likely wrong. Feelings of heavyness are not a symptom of sleep paralysis. The feeling of being crushed down is, however.

I can't possibly address this because the difference between "heaviness" and "crushed down" is a bit too subjective.

That's completely irrelevant

I see your point that hallucinations are HI and not a cause of sleep paralysis per se, but again I repeat that HI and SP go together very often. It is relevant because the poster wanted to know what was happening. So I helped out.

Really? Care to cite any references?

You may search around the forums to find references. There have been some topics in the past where people posted something like, "I felt an evil presence" or "it was a very frightening experience". However, when a recent poll was taken regarding SP experiences, most members reported to not only not experience these "scary" occurrences, but they also reported not experiencing much of SP symptoms in general.

Please improve your attitude. There is a much better way to discuss differences in opinion. Peace out.

Ok, well last night I didn't try it cause I got home really late and just wanted to go to bed.

But, when I went to sleep I remember dreaming. Of course you remember some dreams, but I remember thinking about something in the dream and doing something as though like I was awake, but the thing was that everything else just kinda was like a normal dream. Almost like when you watch a movie and you say "He should go into the other room and call his friend" or whatever, and then right as you say it he does the same thing... it was like that, but it felt like I was thinking about that part as opposed to just watching it like the rest of the dream.

I also could have sworn that when I woke up that I got a pad and pen and wrote down what I was thinking and stuff cause I thought it was kinda strange... and now I'm sitting here looking at the pad... but there's no pen and the pad is completely blank... so I guess maybe I didn't end up writing it down?


Question is, that part that it felt like that I described... is that what it's supposed to be like when you're lucid? Even if that wasn't lucidity even in a small part, is the idea supposed to be that you think of what you want to happen in the dream and it happens?